CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee will examine pipeline safety during a field hearing later this month in West Virginia.

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the committee’s chairman, said Monday that he will convene the hearing Jan. 28 in Charleston.

The hearing follows a natural gas pipeline explosion in Sissonville on Dec. 11 that destroyed four homes and damaged a section of Interstate 77.

Rockefeller says the explosion is a stark reminder that pipeline safety is serious.

The West Virginia Democrat says the panel will review the Department of Transportation’s implementation of a pipeline safety law that became effective in January 2012.